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^f)t Centennial 
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1818 1918 

The Centennial Anniversary 

of the 

Public Schools 
of Philadelphia 



A Kocapitulation 

by 

John P. Garber 




Printed by pupils at the 

I'HiUAnRLPHiA Trades School 

March. 1918 



^^^'2** 



D« of D. 



THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE PUBLIC 
SCHOOLS OF PHILADELPHIA 



The public school sj^stem of Pennsylvania is the direct out- 
growth of the Charity Schools established in our city and 
state for the education of indigent children. Although 
William Penn and many of the early immigrants were men 
of learning and strong advocates of general education, the 
hard conditions of the American wilderness were not favor- 
able to its promotion. Besides the people were poor and the 
colony was divided by the religious and political controversies 
■ attendant upon the welding together of people from all lands 
and imbued with greatly divergent thoughts and practices. At 
the time of the Revolution the population of the state was 
only about 350,000 and was so widely scattered that there was 
little opportunity for strong initiative in any matter demand- 
ing the general interest and support of the people. However, 
such religious organizations as the Society of Friends, the 
Episcopalians and the Mennonites had kept alive the demands 
for education, and after the Revolution a more general interest 
was awakened in communities here and there which resulted 
in legislation for the establishment of private schools and col- 
leges with certain opportunities for those unable to pay their 
tuition. In Philadelphia the influence of such institutions as 
the William Penn Charter School, the Germantown Academy, 
the Academy on Fourth Street, which afterwards became the 
University of Pennsylvania, and the schools established by 
the Episcopalians, began to be felt. But the direct movements 
leading to public education are to be found in the free classes 
started at first in connection with the Sabbath school work of 
the various religious denominations. A ^^ Society for the Es- 
tablishment of Sunday-schools" had been formed in the city 
and as early as 1792 had made an appeal to the Assembly for 
ihe passage of a law providing for a general system of edu- 
cation. 



■ The Constitution of the State, which had been revised in 
1790, contained two provisions for education which indicated 
a growing interest in the subject. They were as follows: 

1. "The Legislature shall, as soon as con- 
veniently may be, provide by law for the es- 
tablishment of schools throughout the State, in 
such a manner that the poor may be taught 
gratis. 

2. "The arts and sciences shall be promoted 
in one or more seminaries of learning." 

In accordance with the latter, favorable legislation was 
soon secured for the establishment of a number of such "semi- 
naries," several of them within the present limils of the city. 

However, it was not until March 3, 181S, that the law was 
passed which virtually was the beginning of our present pub- 
lic school system in Philadelphia. The Board of Control, 
under whose charge the free education established by this law 
was placed, met for organization on the sixth day of April of 
that year. Hence it seems entirely appropriate for us now 
to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the founding 
of the public school system of our city even though the schools 
attended by the boys and girls of to-day are very dilferent 
from the ones known then — just as in many respects our city 
is also different. 

At that time the city extended only from the Delaware to 
the Schuylkill and from South Street to Vine Street, and most 
of the city west of Seventh, south of Pine and north of Vine 
was open country. The remainder of what is now included 
in Philadelphia was known as the Northern Liberties, Ken- 
sington, Southwark, Moyamensing, Passyunk, Penn Town- 
ship, Spring Garden, Oxford, Lower Dublin, IBybeny, More- 
land, Bristol, Germantown, Roxborough, Blockley and King- 
sessing. On the lamp posts surrounding City Hall is indicated 
the boundaries of these various districts and townships which 
now form a part of our city and which with the city itself 
were then known as "The City and County of Philadelphia." 
Under the new school law this Avas called "The First School 
District of the State of Pennsylvania," a name which it has 
borne ever since. Tlie city and county was divided into seven 
"Sections," the city itself being "The First Section"; the 
Northern Liberties and Kensington, "The Second Section"; 
Southwark, Moyamensing, and Passyunk, "The Third Sec- 
tion"; and Penn Township, "The Fourth Section." 



The schools of these four sections were placed in charge 
of "directors," who, in the city proper, were chosen by the 
Common and Select Councils and elsewhere were chosen by 
the Commissioners of the district or township. These di- 
rectors, of whom there were twenty-four in the city, twelve 
in the Northern Liberties, and six in each of the other sections, 
were under the jurisdiction of "a select body" called "The 
Controllers of the Public Schools for the City and County of 
Philadelphia." This body was composed of men selected by 
their own members from each of the boards of directors and 
they had general supervision as well as general control of all 
the schools. The Controllers met for organization on the 
sixth day of April, 1818, and at once proceeded to establish 
schools for both boys and girls. In the city proper they es- 
tablished the "Model School," which was located on Chester 
Street and which was to serve not only as a school for in- 
structing boys and girls, but also as a school for training 
teachers, it being the first school established for this purpose 
in the United States. In the Second Section they established 
the Adelphi School with two teachers and the Kensington 
School also with two teachers; in the Third Section the Moya- 
mensing School with two teachers and the Southwark School 
with two. Both of these schools were in rented buildings. 
In the Fourth Section only a one-room school was established 
and it was also in a rented building. 

The law required that the pupils be instructed under what 
was known as the Lancasterian System. This was a plan 
whereby one teacher assisted by the older pupils was con- 
sidered sufficient for the instruction of three hundred pupils. 
This Monitorial System, as it eventually came to be called, 
was introduced by its originator, an Englishman named Joseph 
Lancaster, who also established the Model School on Chester 
Street. The plan had been adopted largely because of its 
cheapness, the average cost per pupil being less than four 
dollars per year, while where it was not in use the cost was 
then nearly ten dollars. It continued in general use in the 
city and the nearby districts until in 1838 when the President 
of the Board of Control, Thomas Dunlap, condemned it in his 
annual report by saying: "The fullest experience has induced 
the Controllers to question the efficiency of this arrangement, 
which they think cannot be defended on any but nan-ow and 
parsimonious views" — views which experience has shown work 
irremediable harm in educational affairs. 



The Controllers determined the number of school houses 
that should be built and also their size and cost, although the 
Directors in the various districts supervised their erection. 
Twenty "respectable taxable citizens" could, by petition, com- 
pel a public hearing before the courts in regard to any addi- 
tional schools they might desire. As there was at lirst no 
superintendent of schools, the Board of Control exercised 
general super\dsion over both teachers and pupils, although 
the Directors elected the teachers. The books and supplies 
needed for the pupils w^ere furnished free then just as they 
are now. 

In 1821 the schools of the. other districts and townships of 
the County of Philadelphia were also placed in charge of the 
Board of Control. This increased the number of Sections to 
eight. Oxford, Lower Dublin, Byberry and Moreland were 
denominated The Fifth Section; Germantown, Bristol and* 
Roxborough being The Sixth Section; Blockley and Kingses- 
sing, The Seventh Section; and the township of Passyunk, The 
Eighth Section. By that time the first four sections had 7 
schools with nearly 3000 pupils in attendance. Three years 
later this number had increased only 500, indicating a very 
slow growth in these schools. In order to learn to read and 
spell pupils were first taught the alphabet from A all the way 
through to Z and even including &c. What they were then 
taught in the schools is well indicated in the distribution of 
the above 3500 pupils. "Exclusive of the alphabet and spell- 
ing departments, and writers on slates, there are among these 
children 1728 in the reading, 899 in the paper w^riting, and 
1474 in the arithmetic classes: in the latter branch, some have 
advanced to vulgar (common, to distinguish from decimal) 
fractions, and in several schools grammar and geography are 
successfully taught. Knitting and other useful needlework 
forms part of the instruction of the girls, and at one of the 
schools the plaiting of straw has recently been beneficially in- 
troduced." In geography the ability to point out places on 
the globe was regarded as the highest evidence of success. A 
great deal of interest was taken in the moral instruction of 
the pupils and much of the "paper-writing" was in imitation 
of moral and scriptural texts written at the head of the sheet 
by the teacher. 

The Board of Control from the very earliest days made a 
special effort to instruct colored children. As this was long 
before the question of slavery became a great public issue, it 



forms a matter of great credit to the Board of Control and 
the citizens who supported these schools. That the colored 
pupils made good use of the opportunity is indicated by the 
following report on their progress: "The proficiency of the 
colored children in the branches they are taught, and the or- 
derly habits which they have acquired by attendance at school, 
promise the happiest results for society." 

Although the Act establishing these free schools several 
times refers to them as "public schools," they were not such 
schools as we now know them. As early as 1790 the State 
began to pass laws for the free education of the poor, and 
Philadelphia had secured most of such legislation. While 
the law of 1818 was excellent in many respects, its purpose 
was simply to establish a better and less costly system of ele- 
mentary schools for poor children than the plans then in 
vogue. It contained no provision for the education of any 
children at public expense except "indigent orphan children 
or children of indigent parents" — boys between 6 and 14 
years of age and girls between 5 and 13. Hence these schools 
were "pauper schools" and as such people in general had no 
thought of sending their children to them; therefore, the 
greater part of the children of the city were then in private 
"pay schools." By the year 1834, however, a strong sentiment 
had developed that education was so essential to the welfare 
of the State, as well as so beneficial to the individual, that it 
should be made free to all. This was a new thought based on 
the idea that in a democracy education should be free, not 
because some could not otherwise secure its benefits, but rather 
because opportunities in such fundamental things must be as 
nearly equalized as possible for all. Both ignorance and 
class distinctions are fatal to a democracj^, and the most ad- 
vanced thinkers of that day soon realized that the schools 
afforded the best means of removing these menaces to the wel- 
fare of the people. 

A leading part in the final movement for free education 
for all was taken by the Pennsylvania Society for the Promo- 
tion of Public Schools, which was organized in Philadelphia in 
1827. Roberts Vaux, the first president of the Board of 
Control, was also made president of this Society. Fortu- 
nately, Pennsylvania had several governors who, during this 
period, were deeply interested in education. Of these Gov- 
ernor Hiester took a deep interest in securing the advantages 
of education for as many as possible. He especially com- 



mended Philadelphia "For the establishment of schools in 
which the terms of tuition are greatly reduced, and in which 
those who are not able to meet the expense are taught gra- 
tuitously." Governor George Wolf, in his first inaugural ad- 
dress, also showed his interest in education by commending 
the legislature that should provide for education ^'on a scale 
so l)road and extensive as to reach every village and neighhor- 
hood." When it is remembered that there were a great many, 
even among adults, in the State at that time who could neither 
read nor write, and that schooling was regarded by many as 
unnecessary, especially for girls, the need for such action is 
apparent. Upon his re-election in 1832, Governor Wolf again 
manifested great interest in the schools and efforts were at 
once made to place education on a better basis. Joseph G. 
Clarkson, of Philadelphia, who was chairman of the House 
Committee on Education, made an able report fa\'oring the 
establishment of a broad system of public education with 
schools open free to all children of proper age. At the be- 
ginning of the session of 1833-34, on motion of Samuel Breck, 
of Philadelphia, a joint committee of the House and the 
Senate was appointed "for the purpose of digesting a system 
of general education for this Commonwealth." The committee 
obtained "all the information possible from persons engaged 
in the business of education" and also made a study of the 
systems in force in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York, 
where public schools had already been established. As a re- 
sult of their work they presented a bill, which is said to have 
been drawn up by Senator Breck, and which was passed with 
only one dissenting voice. This was in 1834. While there 
were things in the new law which were "found to be clumsy 
and inconvenient in practice," and were therefore soon re- 
pealed, the fundamental idea of free public schools for all 
was thereby established and the State committed to an educa- 
tional policy which has enabled it to rank among the best in 
the nation. 

But the new law did not have smooth sailing. It had 
many strong friends and worthy advocates, but there were 
some who had no sympathy with the doctrine of equality upon 
which the law was founded. They had not outgrown the Old 
World idea that there are two classes of society, a higher and 
a lower, and that it is a mistake to endeavor to break down 
the l)arrier between the two. There were others who were 
unwilling to help, through taxation, to pay for the education 

8 



of other people's children. They had not the vision to see 
how, in human society, the welfare of the individual is 
wrapped up in that of his fellow-men. Nor did they stop to 
consider what they owed to society for all of the benefits they 
themselves enjoyed. Those who believed in two classes of 
people — "the hewers of wood and the drawers of water" and 
a superior class— held that to educate the "lower class" beyond 
the mere elements was both unnecessary and apt to render 
them unhappy. That these were human beings like them- 
selves, and therefore entitled to all of the resources of growth 
and satisfaction, did not enter their minds. They did not 
realize that both the safety and the prosperity of the State, 
and therefore their own, were in direct proportion to the in- 
telligence and breadth of training of every individual in the 
State. Opposition to the new educational plans and ideals 
also arose from several religious organizations that had al- 
ready established schools and from others who were influenced 
by narrow ideals. It is not surprising therefore that efforts 
were at once made to have the law repealed. Not only did 
these efforts fail, but the friends of the law were able to 
strengthen some of its provisions. This was largely due to 
the championship of Thaddeus Stevens, who made a plea for 
the law, when the issue was in doubt in the Assembly, which 
was "so convincing that the friends of education were brought 
in solid column to the support of the measure and thus saved 
the common school system." 

Although the cause of the public school triumphed. Gov- 
ernor Wolf, who had been renominated for a third term, was 
defeated for re-election. Like many another man who has 
faithfully and fearlessly espoused a good cause, he became a 
martyr to the great idea of an education for all. He went 
out, however, with these prophetic words in his last message : 
"There can be no doubt that as the system advances into more 
general use and its advantages become more apparent, it will 
increase in favor with the people generally, but especially with 
the more liberal-minded and intelligent"— a fact fully demon- 
strated by the history of public education everywhere, as much 
of its opposition and lack of support has always arisen from 
a lack of definite knowledge of the work of the schools and 
their essential place in human progress. 

In 1836 there was a reshaping of the public school law 
for the State, which left it, in its essentials, practically as it 
exists to-day. A few notable changes have, however, been made 

9 



since that time. The public meetings at which the tax rate 
for school purposes was fixed are no longer required; holding 
elections at w^hich people voted "scliools" or "no schools" was 
discontinued in 1848; and the legal school age has been raised 
from four, as it existed then, to six. But, aside from the fact 
that the year 1836 marks the real beginning of public schools 
in the State as w^e now know them, Philadelphia's main inter- 
est in the act consists in its repeal of the portions of the law 
of 1818 which made the Lancasterian system obligatory in the 
city and which limited the benefits of the public schools to 
the children of indigent parents. It also authorized the es- 
tablishment of the Central High School "for the full education 
of such pupils of the public schools as may possess the 
requisite qualifications," This was a decidedly advanced step 
in public education and showed that, in Philadelphia at least, 
there were enough advanced thinkers in the Commonwealth 
to justify the statement of one of tlie advocates of the law: 
"In other ages and countries, the lower orders might be con- 
fined to the rudiments of knowledge, while the higher branches 
were dispensed to the privileged classes, in distant and ex- 
pensive seminaries. But here we have no lower orders. Our 
statesmen and our higher magistrates, our professional men 
and our capitalists, our philosophers and our poets, our mer- 
chants and our mechanics, all spring alike from the mass." 

That the freeing of education and the opening of the high 
school, had a general stimulating effect upon the public schools 
is evident from the fact that the attendance leaped in a few 
years from 7000 to 35,000. This was a triumph of the fact 
so fully being demonstrated in public education in recent 
years — namely, that the people will support and take pride 
in their schools to the extent to which they are convinced that 
they contain the maximum opportunity for their boys and 
girls. And that the high school idea Avas not for the benefit 
of "aristocrats" only, as w^as then claimed b\^ some, was 
clearly shown by an investigation of the principal of the 
school, Dr. John S. Hart, which revealed the fact that more 
tlian 75 per cent, of the entering class were the sons of 
laborers, porters, conductors, artisans, storekeepers, etc. 

The year 1854 was a notable one in the history of the city 
because, at that time, an act was passed by the Assembly 
which consolidated all of the districts and townshii)s within 
the County of Philadelphia with the city proper, Tliis in- 
creased the number of sections under the jurisdiction of the 

10 



Board of Control to 24, the number of schools to 303, and the 
number of pupils to 52,073. The number of teachers then 
employed was 876 and the entire payroll was only $294,316 
or an average of $336 per teacher. The average cost per 
pupil for the year 1854 was $9.16, and the total value of the 
school-plant was placed at $1,236,823.61. It is interesting to 
note that "night schools" (evening schools) had already been 
established and that the Board spent $20,000 upon them that 
year. The president of the Board at that time, T. G. Hol- 
lingsworth, said of those attending these night schools what 
is even more true of our evening activities under our present 
city conditions: "How much better that they should be thus 
engaged, preparing to become useful and respectable citizens, 
than that they should be attending those other schools, to be 
found on every corner, where idle young men learn, from 
experienced teachers, those lessons of vice and crime which 
bring not only ruin to themselves but irreparable damage and 
loss to the community.'' 

The Act of Consolidation placed the entire power of levy- 
ing taxes in the hands of the Citj^ Councils. This soon proved 
a source of irritation and friction between the Board and 
Councils. As the body controlling the finances always pos- 
sesses predominating power. Councils from that time were in 
a position to wield an undue influence upon the policies and 
practices of the Board. That the friction early became serious 
is evident from one of the annual reports of Edwin Shippen, 
who was President of the Board from 1864 to 1869. After 
complaining of the inability of the Board to secure promised 
funds with which to carry on the educational work and of the 
efforts of Councils to interfere with the progressive policies 
of the Board, he said: "The Councils of the City of Phila- 
delphia have no more right to instruct the Board of School 
Controllers in respect to educational affairs than has the 
Board of School Controllers the right to instruct Councils in 
regard to details of municipal management." It should be 
added, however, that this condition continued as late as 1906, 
when the minimum amount that could be appropriated to the 
schools was fixed at 5 mills, or in reality until 1911, when the 
Board w^as given the right to levy and budget its own taxation. 

That President Shippen was exceptionally well prepared 
to represent the best interests of the people in their educa- 
tional affairs is evident from his educational vision and his 
advocacy of progressive policies. He realized the desirability 

11 



of carefully-prepared school statistics, the importance to the 
child of a properly developed body, the need of compulsory 
school attendance, and also the need of expert school super- 
vision. In one of his earliest reports he lamented the fact 
that Philadelphia, in common with other cities, lacked the 
educational records and statistics that would furnish a basis 
for judging of "the practical workings of different school or- 
ganizations." In his report for 1867 he urged the introduc- 
tion of "a thorough, simple, and effective system of physical 
exercises to give children the advantages of healthful exer- 
cises, more important even, we are free to say, than any por- 
tions of the mental culture." As early as 1865 he advocated 
compulsory attendance at school. As it was estimated, a few 
jTars later, that there were over 20,000 children not attending 
an}^ school but who w^ere running the streets "in idleness and 
vagabondism," the need for such a law was evidently great. 
In regard to expert supervision of the schools. President 
Shippen said in his report for 1867: "The time has arrived 
when the huge machinerj^ of the Public School Sj^stem of 
Philadelphia requires the most careful action and delicate 
sui)ervision. . . . The whole system requires a governing 
hand, one who has experience, tact, and executive ability. 

. . Philadelphia alone, of all large cities, is without such 
supervision. . . . There is no one upon whom is charged 
the duties and responsibilities of supervising all the schools 
of Philadelphia as a connected bod}^ . . . And to the want 
of this office has been attributed, to a considerable degree, 
many of the imperfections which have been charged against 
our school system." A committee appointed to consider the 
subject reported: "No plan of general education, the success 
of which depends upon the conduct of others, however solici- 
tous these may be in the performance of their duties, can be 
complete without a supervisory head to recommend to the 
consideration of the Board such improvements as his o^A^l 
experience, and that of other cities, may from time to time 
suggest." However, the necessary appropriation for tlie pur- 
pose was not secured until in 1883 when, in the spring of that 
year. Dr. James Mcxllister was elected as the first Superin- 
tendent of the Public Schools. 

President Shippen was greatly annoyed bj^ some who 
would liave wrecked the schools with cheapness and by others 
who would have blighted them by their carping criticism. But 
he was especially bitter in his denunciation of secret opposi- 

12 



tion. These secret enemies, he said, lose no opportunity by 
which to impair the usefulness and effectiveness of our schools. 
"This secret opposition is always dangerous, and must be 
carefully watched, and openly fouglit. Among these specious 
oj^ponents, we hnd men of intelligence; men who have never 
been within the walls of a public school edihce, and who are 
utterly and shamefully ignorant of the instruction, at whicli 
their malevolence is cast." AVhile he recognized the imperfec- 
tion of the schools, he also saw the vital connection between 
them and the prosperity of the city and between them and 
the welfare of the nation. Although he was often disap- 
pointed at receiving no help in the work from sources from 
which he had a right to expect it, he believed in the possibili- 
ties and ultimate triumph of our democracy through the in- 
telligence upon which it would be firmly established by the 
thorough education of the masses. Writing in 1SG6, he ut- 
tered words which should be peculiarly significant during our 
present great European struggle. "The final success of our 
republican institutions," he said, "will depend, more than all 
else, upon the success of our republican education; that the 
triumphant evidence we have just been giving of the strengtii 
and stability of those institutions is an evidence, more than all 
else, ... of our success in educating the people." 

There are many interesting things connected with these 
early days of our school system. For many years the law re- 
quired the county auditors to examine the accounts of the 
Board. That both the Board and tlie auditors did not always 
favor the bills presented for payment is clearly shown in the 
following : 

"The Auditors have examined the objections 
of the Controllers to Benjamin Martin's account 
as rendered February 4, 1821 ; in whicli he 
charges 100 dollars 49 cents, for a raising din- 
ner, which exceeded the amount allowed by the 
Controllers 50 dollars 49 cents; and also Syl- 
vester Roberts's account for i:)rinting 1000 copies 
of an address delivered at Ebenezer Church on 
the 4th of July last, 3 dollars fov printing a 
Hymn for the same occasion ; John Graham's ac- 
count of 4 dollars for a suit of clothes given to 
a boy for reciting the Declaration of Independ- 
ence at same time; and John Allen's of 1 dollar 
50 cents for preparing the said church for the 

13 



same occasion; and they perfectly coincide with 
the Controllers in the opinion that the said 
charges are improper, and cannot be admitted." 

On April 16, 1845, the Board of Controllers was given 
corporate powers under the title of "The Controllers of the 
public schools of the first school district of Pennsylvania." 
As a corporate body, they were by this act given legal title 
to all of the school property then in possession of the Com- 
missioners of the County or of any other person. However, 
at Consolidation of the City in 1854, these privileges reverted 
to City Councils, in whose hands it remained until 1911, when 
the Board was again vested with the full control of its own 
property. 

As an indication of the salaries paid in these early days, 
the annual report of President Hollingsworth for 1855 shows 
that, although the pay of teachers had been increased because 
at existing rates for board, clothing and other necessary ex- 
penses "it was found exceedingly difficult for an educated 
young woman to live decently and comfortably on the salaries 
named," it still left 198 teachers at a salary of $200 per year 
and 146 at a salary of $225. This was out of a total of 935 
teachers, of whom 9 per cent, were male teachers. At this 
time the average cost per pupil was $9.16 — "a sum not so 
large as the ordinary cost of books alone in private schools." 
The average cost per pupil in the high school at that time was 
$37.72. 

In 1867 the appointment of the members of the Board of 
Control was taken away from the various Boards of Direc- 
tors and given to the courts, the members so appointed hold- 
ing, by virtue of their office, full privileges in the Board of 
Directors of their respective sections. At that time there 
were 27 members in the Board of Control, 15 of them being 
appointed by the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and 
12 by the Judges of the District Court. 

By an Act of Assembly the name of the Board of Con- 
trollers was, in 1869, changed to that of the Board of Public 
Education, as a more distinctive title. In 1905 there was a 
general recodification of the school laws of the State, in 
which the number of members of the Board was reduced from 
one for each section (the sections corresponding to the city 
wards), then 42 in all, to 21. At the same time the Boards 
of Directors of the several school sections or wards, whicli 
had been fixed by the law of 1894 at 13 for each section, or 

14 




Cathakixk Stkkkt Scikxm. ( .Mt. Vkknon), Nokth Siuk of Catharine 
Stki'-kt. West of Thiri> 



546 in all, were replaced by Boards of School Visitors of 7 
members each, elected by the people. At the same time the 
right to elect teachers and to control their rating was re- 
moved from the local authorities and placed on a civil service 
basis under the control of the Board of Education. This was 
an important movement in the direction of centralizing au- 
thority and the establishment of a merit system for the elec- 
tion and promotion of teachers. In 1911 the Board was given 
independent control of taxation, within the six-mill limit set 
by law, as well as independent borrowing power. The size of 
the Board was at the same time reduced to 15 members. This 
was done in connection with the remodeling of the 1905 gen- 
eral school law of the State, and has been referred to by the 
Bureau of Education at Washington as "perhaps the most 
extensive and radical instance of educational legislation that 
has ever been accomplished in a single act in this country." 
From the small and imperfect beginnings of 1818 has 
grown a public school system in our city which now enrolls 
over 230,000 pupils taught by over 6300 teachers in 307 
school buildings, and representing in buildings, grounds, and 
equipment a valuation of over $35,000,000. In the earlier 
days there was little attempted beyond the imparting of 
knowledge. The home and community life provided for many 
of the things which now must be included in the program of 
the school, or they will not be taught at all. The changed and 
increasingly complex conditions have thrown a burden on the 
school that was unknown in former days. To meet these 
insistent needs the school must now not only impart knowl- 
edge but must develop intelligence and adaptability of a high 
type and also see: (1) that during youth health knowledge 
and health habits are inculcated; (2) that there is the maxi- 
mum amount of vocational intelligence and training as a 
preparation for self-support; (3) that civic duties and re- 
sponsibilities are as clearly appreciated and accepted as pos- 
sible; (4) that helpful recreational activities are chosen and 
provided for, with uplifting ideals and inclination for the use 
of leisure time as their safe foundation; and (5) that woven 
through this entire program there shall be a clean and high 
moral purpose. In addition to this the modern school must 
care for the physical and moral unfortunates so that they, too, 
may have the fullest opportunity to outdistance their handicap 
and find life worth living. The modern school must also reach 
out into the community and become a gi'eat center of com- 

15 



munity intelligence and welfare. In brief, the schools of 
Philadelphia are and must continue increasingly to be the 
inveterate foe of ignorance, poverty, disease, crime, and all 
forms of human waste and neglect, and a great fundamental 
agency for increasing the welfare and influence of our City, 
State, and Nation. 

To carry on this important work the Board of Public Edu- 
cation has provided Kindergarten classes, for children from 
three to five years of age; Elementary schools, for from six 
to eight years of instruction in the fundamentals of knowl- 
edge and training; Junior high schools, for the first three 
years of a secondary education, during which the work of the 
elementary school is applied and extended in a most helpful 
way; Senior high schools, for three or four years of a more 
definite and scientific preparation for life; a large number of 
free scholarshij)s to institutions of higher learning; Teacher- 
training schools, where two and a half years of professional 
training is given as a ^preparation for teaching; Continuation 
schools, both day and evening — the day continuation schools 
providing eight hours' instruction per week for those between 
the ages of 14 and 16 who are in employment, and the evening 
schools providing evening instruction, both elementary and 
high, for those beyond the age of 16 who desire to improve 
their education, as well as for the foreign-born who may de- 
sire to learn the English language; Special classes for back- 
ward, crippled, anaemic, or tubercular childi^en for whom 
there are separate schools ; Cooking classes and Sewing classes, 
where the domestic arts so essential to the making and keep- 
ing of a good home are taught ; Handwork classes and Shop- 
work classes, in which the foundations of vocational training 
are laid; and School garden and Home garden classes, in 
which are taught many of the things in connection with food 
production and food conservation that we are now finding 
so vital to our welfare, as well as a knowledge and love for 
flowers and fiower-raising. Music and drawing are taught as 
part of the regular daily program and with the strong under- 
lying purpose of introducing the boys and girls to the rich 
storehouses of art for their fuller aesthetic and spiritual en- 
joyment. Physical training is systematically given as a means 
of developing a strong and enduring body, a healthy attrac- 
tive carriage, and for the correction of many bodily defects. 
Warm lunches are provided at cost in all of the higher 
schools and in many of the elementary. The Board also main- 

16 



tains careful Medical Inspection of the schools, both as a 
means of preventing the spread of contagion and for the dis- 
covery and correction of remediable physical defects; a Com- 
pulsory Attendance department that cares for both truancy 
and the truant, and which also has charge, under the law, of 
granting working certiticates ; and a system of School play- 
grounds that after school and during vacations affords a better 
place to play than the street. Many valuable Community 
Meetings are also being held in the school buildings, although 
the community use of the school has far greater possibilities 
than have, as yet, been provided for. 

This, in a general way, indicates the activities and pur- 
poses of our Philadelphia public school system. It is not 
intended to indicate that school accommodations and equip- 
ment are as adequate as they should be nor that there is not 
room for improvement and enlargement along all lines. But 
more and better school buildings, larger school yards, and 
enlarged activities mean additional expense; and the funds 
of the Board are limited. There must be full value received 
from every dollar spent in the schools, but as some one has 
tersely said, "A school system that is not costing a great deal 
these days is not worth a great deal." And it still remains 
true that the entire annual cost per pupil for public instruc- 
tion in Philadelphia represents a sum not much larger than 
the ordinary cost of books and other materials alone where 
instruction has to be paid for. 

With its modern safe and sanitary school buildings, many 
of them representing an expenditure of several hundred thou- 
sand dollars each, with equipment and supplies well adapted 
to the work, and with teachers and methods represeenting the 
best in modern educational training and thought, the public 
schools of Philadelphia to-day are in marked contrast to 
those attended by boys and girls of a hundred years ago. To 
the work of enlargement and the improvement of these schools 
we all should dedicate our best efforts; for they represent 
for our young people not only the heritage of the past, but 
also the opportunities of the present and the vision and hope 
of the future. The great European conflict is forcing a tre- 
mendous readjustment of human thought and practice. It is 
rapidly setting aside that which no longer meets the needs of 
the day, and proving that things which are cheap and small 
have no place in modern educational thought. We are thinking 
more and more in terms of the big things of life — of the 

17 



things that go far beyond the daily task and which put a 
larger purpose and meaning into life. May we all measure 
up to the demands of this new day, in our ideals, in our prac- 
tice, but especially in a sincere interest in the welfare of the 
young people whose destinies are being shaped in our public 
schools. This is not only our duty to them and to the 'com- 
munity and State we are endeavoring to serve, but also an 
opportunity for the highest form of service that human so- 
ciety has to offer. 

John P. Garber. 

Philadelphia, April C, 1918. 



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